Classic CNN Bias

Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israel are striking so frequently that their “news cycle” is over within hours. New stories of terrorist outrages push “old news” off the screen.

Under these circumstances, HonestReporting recommends that members mobilize, monitor, and respond to media bias IMMEDIATELY, without waiting for our recommendations — as we know many of you already do.

On Saturday night, February 16, a Palestinian terrorist attacked Israeli teenagers sitting at a pizzeria in the town of Karnei Shomron. The suicide bomber killed Keren Shatsky and Nehemia Amar, both 15 years old. Several other teens, hit by flying nails placed in the bomb, remain in very critical condition.

CNN’s website coverage, however, curtly mentioned the “killing of two Israelis” — failing to reveal the Israeli victims’ names, or the fact that they were teenagers. Furthermore, a large percentage of CNN’s audience is American, yet CNN did not report that Shatsky was a U.S. citizen.

On the other hand, CNN did find it important to report the bomber’s name, age and hometown: “20-year-old Sadek Abdel Hafez… from Qalqilya.”

It is time to ask CNN again why suicide bombers are not called “terrorists.” Furthermore, terrorists are “personalized” with ages, names, and hometowns — while Israeli victims are not. Why the double standard?

The same CNN article reported that: “Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian in a gun battle Sunday near an army base in northern Israel, and another Palestinian died nearby when a car exploded, a police spokesman said.”

CNN makes no mention that the two Palestinians were in the process of an attempted double-suicide bombing. According to the Jerusalem Post, the terrorists fired shots at Israeli policemen, threw pipe bombs, and were strapped with explosive belts. They had planned to carry out a combined suicide attack, with one of them shooting and detonating explosives, and the other detonating explosives while security forces and rescue squads arrived at the scene to tend to the wounded.

CNN says they just died “in a gun battle.” Read CNN’s website and monitor its news broadcasts. If you object to CNN’s characterization of Israeli casualties and Palestinian terrorists, send your comments to: